The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation has described as “unconscionable insensitivity and crass opportunism”, the All Progressives Congress (APC) charge that President Goodluck Jonathan is not serious about the welfare and security needs of the nation’s security agencies as evidenced by the Ombatse killings in Nasarawa State in May 2013.
A statement signed by the spokesperson for the Jonathan/Sambo campaign organization, Femi Fani-Kayode, said it shows how the desperation of the opposition APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, for power has pushed his party’s campaign organisation into a frenzied search for any imaginable reason or ground to accuse President Jonathan of incompetence in the handling of security matters.
According to Fani-Kayode, the crisis that led to the death of the security personnel, in the first instance, was as a result of in-fighting within the political echelons of Nasarawa State, which is controlled by the APC.
He stated further, “As is the case with the Boko Haram insurgency, after the APC has willfully exacerbated a dangerous security situation through its unguarded utterances and encouragement to rogue elements within its ranks, the party now turns around and tries to profit from further politicization of the fallout of a heinous deed in which it is complicit.
“This marks a desperate low for the APC and is tantamount to a new form of political voodoo, which involves trying to raise political capital and electoral sympathy from the deaths of our brave fallen security personnel. In view of this, we condemn in the strongest language the APC’s insensitivity and opportunism.
“The Federal Government had already established a mechanism to determine the immediate and remote causes of the unfortunate Ombatse killings. In addition, while nothing can replace the loss of a loved one, families of the fallen security personnel were compensated.
“Since there is still an ongoing process to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to book and forestall a recurrence, we will not join the APC in the distasteful exploitation of the deaths of our security personnel for political gains”.
